Tuesday 22 July 2014

Pembrokeshire: Inspector Knacker calls again - Updated

Update 23 July 10am

The BBC and the Pembrokeshire Herald are now also reporting the latest developments in Haverfordwest. The Herald carries a copy of Cllr Paul Miller's letter to council leader Jamie Adams calling for the suspension of Bryn Parry-Jones.

In his account of last week's council meeting, Cllr Jacob Williams makes some interesting points about the local press which has burst back to life since the Herald entered the fray.

Meanwhile, the South Wales Argus reports that Chris Burns, Assistant Chief Executive of Carmarthenshire County Council, has been appointed interim CEO of troubled Caerphilly.

Llongyfarchiadau mawr Chris!

End of an era


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Following the Western Telegraph's recent scoop with the Bryn Parry-Jones letter revealing that he had transferred the loot paid unlawfully in lieu of his employer pension contributions to Mrs P-J, the paper has now come up with another exclusive that it says will rock what must by now be the very shaky foundations of County Hall in Haverfordwest.

Gloucestershire Constabulary are once more back on the case after a whistleblower emerged, and serious allegations have been made.

Paul Miller, the leader of the Labour group on the council, has called for Mr Parry-Jones to be suspended. Rather oddly, though, Cllr Miller and his Labour group apparently abstained from a vote registering the council's disapproval of Mr Parry-Jones's failure to repay the unlawful supplement (see Jacob Williams).

Over in Carmarthenshire, it will be recalled, the Labour leader, Kevin Madge has defended the unlawful payments for all he is worth.

In this month's meeting of Carmarthenshire County Council Kev put on his very cross voice when the subject of unlawful libel indemnity to the Chief Executive came up. It was time to move on, he said.

No doubt something very similar was said at the more recent meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council, only the part of the meeting dealing with the unlawful pension supplement was held behind closed doors.

And in any case, if Kev hopes it will all go away let's not forget that Mark James told council staff in his recent sermon in Y Gair that the pension scheme in question had been withdrawn "for now".

But before we get too concerned for the structural integrity of County Hall in Haverfordwest, let's not forget that the boys in blue from Gloucestershire took three months to complete their last "investigation" and managed to do it without interviewing anyone involved or entering into correspondence with the council.


1 comment:

Redhead said...

We are into the 17th month of an inquiry (by our local police) into a major local scandal concerning officers and councillors. Major witnesses have still not been interviewed and all involved remain in post and still sit on joint committees with their police colleagues. I wish you well.